Body and Mind – Health & Wellbeing Day

The Explorium

Discover how amazing our bodies and minds really are, in this special day dedicated to health and wellbeing.

Researchers from UEA bring a whole host of hands-on activities for you to explore. Find out how cataracts can cloud your vision, and how science is helping to blow those clouds away. Learn how your child’s brain works and develops, or how smoking affects human health, and the science that’s helping smokers to kick the habit. Test your own brain’s superpowers by changing your vision, and see how quickly you adjust. Join in with exciting psychological experiments that make you think about how you understand the world around you. Plus activities from Fitness Space, Mind Wellbeing Service, Easton & Otley College, Heartburn Cancer UK East Anglia, parkrun, Wellcome Genome Campus, Big C: Norfolk’s Cancer Charity, and more.

Illustrations: DesignPod

Sponsored by

Cataracts: Blow the Clouds Away

The lens in your eye is a bit like the one in a camera – focusing light onto the retina to record the world we see around us. But as we age, proteins in the lens can clump together, causing cataracts that can cloud our vision. Come and find out how scientists at UEA are working on treatments that will ‘blow away the clouds’ caused by cataracts.

Dr Aram Saeed is a Lecturer in Drug Delivery in the School of Pharmacy at the University of East Anglia. Prof Michael Wormstone is Professor of Ophthalmology in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of East Anglia.

Take a look at UEA’s GERT suit: a specially designed suit that simulates the typical impairments of sensory and motor skills in old age. Students from UEA’s School of Health Sciences use the suit to better understand the experiences and needs of their service users, training even more compassionate health professionals for the future.

The School of Health Sciences at the University of East Anglia delivers undergraduate and postgraduate degrees across a range of areas, including nursing, midwifery, occupational therapy, paramedic science, physiotherapy and speech and language therapy.

Your brain has a superpower – it can rewire itself to overcome impairments! Test your own brain’s superpowers by changing your vision, and see how quickly you adjust. UEA’s Dr Stephanie Rossit and her team will guide you through a series of fun activities to see just how super your brain can be!

Dr Stephanie Rossit is a Lecturer in Psychology in the School of Psychology at the University of East Anglia.

Suit up and get ready to learn how drug receptors work using immediate and controlled release.

Stay receptive… and keep your eye on the ball!

Dr Janine Wilkinson is a Senior Research Associate in the School of Pharmacy at the University of East Anglia. Zuzana Hlaskova is a PhD student in the School of Pharmacy at the University of East Anglia.

It’s snot something you get to do every day! Step into a giant nose and learn the science behind snot, allergies and asthma. Roll up your sleeves and make some snot, learn what happens when we sneeze and why certain cells are important in asthma, and look at allergens down the microscope.

Prof Maria O’Connell is Professor of Cell Biology in the School of Pharmacy at the University of East Anglia.

Looking to quit smoking? Or perhaps you’d like to support friends or family who want to kick the habit? Come and chat with experts from UEA, Public Health England and Smokefree Norfolk, plus try some hands-on activities and get the latest health information and advice.

Dr Catlin Notley is a Senior Lecturer in Mental Health in the Norwich Medical School at the University of East Anglia.

Science needs you! Be part of an ongoing research programme investigating how we process scenes in our day-to-day lives. Join UEA’s Dr Louise Ewing for a series of exciting psychological experiments that will really make you think about how you understand scenes.

Dr Louise Ewing is a Lecturer in Psychology in the School of Psychology at the University of East Anglia.

Learn more about how your child’s brain works and develops. Try out fun activities with your kids at the Developmental Dynamics stand and explore how they think, learn and pay attention to things.

Have you ever wondered how infants learn to reach, hold objects in their hands, and eventually name those objects? Are you fascinated by children’s ability to communicate with and without words? Do you wonder how children transition from being unable to hold up their own heads to walking and talking and making decisions? If so, then you’ve come to the right place!

The Developmental Dynamics Lab is a research laboratory based in the School of Psychology at the University of East Anglia. They are interested in how children change so dramatically in early development. The Lab is continuously carrying out research studies looking at how children think, remember and pay attention to things. They use fun tasks with novel toys or children looking at changing pictures on a screen. Sometimes they ask children to make ‘same’ or ‘different’ judgements so we know what they are thinking. Other times, they might ask children to learn a new word… or even just play!

Another hallmark of the Lab is their use of technology. They use eye-tracking, immersive video, pressure mats, wearable devices kids take home to measure language input or sleep, and different forms of brain imaging – all geared toward understanding how children change over time at different levels of measurement from neurons to neighbourhoods.

What are they after in the long run? In addition to just understanding how children change, they are trying to turn their discoveries into innovative ways to help at-risk children. The idea here is simple: they want to help at-risk children very early in development before adversity takes hold.

If you’re interested in taking part in one of their studies, come and see them at the Norwich Science Festival, or email child.scientist@uea.ac.uk.

It’s one hundred years since learning disability nursing gained its status as a distinct field of nursing, now regulated in the UK by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

The last century has seen a real change in attitudes towards people with disabilities – find out more about progress made in legislation and care of those with learning disabilities in this special, interactive exhibition.

Is it really just heartburn? Persistent heartburn in some individuals can cause changes in the oesophagus leading to cancer. Early diagnosis is key and raising public awareness of symptoms can lead to early detection resulting in a better outcome for patients. Volunteers from Heartburn Cancer UK – East Anglian will demonstrate a new way of detecting changes early using a ‘pill on a string’ test currently being trialed that may soon be routinely available in GP surgeries and will help to make diagnosis quicker and easier. Early diagnosis will save lives!

Genomic research at the Wellcome Genome Campus is helping understand how the human body works at the DNA blueprint level. Studying this code allows us to learn more about ourselves and how certain health issues arise. Come join us in exploring just what you can tell from DNA!

The Wellcome Genome Campus (based near the village of Hinxton, south of Cambridge) is a world leading genomic research campus which is home to the Wellcome Sanger Institute and EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute. Together these institutes are committed to delivering life-changing science with the reach, scale and imagination to solve some of humanity’s greatest challenges.

The original focus of the Sanger Institute was to understand genomes particularly through large scale sequencing and analysis. A leader in the Human Genome Project we are now focused on understanding the role of genetics in health and disease. Our research uncovers the basis of genetic and infectious disease. We aim to provide results that can be translated into diagnostics, treatments or therapies that reduce global health burdens.

The European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) provides data from life science experiments free to the global scientific community and performs research in computational biology. As the European centre for bioinformatics services, the institute manages over 50 databases of biological data including nucleic acid, protein sequences and macromolecular structures. We provide access to this data to more than 6 million researchers around the world. The EBI contributes to the advancement of biology through research in bioinformatics and helps train scientists to use bioinformatics tools and resources.

parkrun organise free, weekly, 5km timed events around the world. They are open to everyone, free, and are safe and easy to take part in. People of every ability are encouraged to take part; from those taking their first steps in running, to Olympians; from juniors, to those with more experience; all are welcome. Come along and find out where you can walk, jog, run or volunteer at parkruns across East Anglia.

Wellcome Genome Campus is embarking on a mission to sequence all the creatures in the UK! Everything from animals to microscopic fungi have DNA and by studying this we can unlock a wealth of knowledge. Come and see how we are doing this and just what we might discover!

The Wellcome Genome Campus (based near the village of Hinxton, south of Cambridge) is a world leading genomic research campus which is home to the Wellcome Sanger Institute and EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute. Together these institutes are committed to delivering life-changing science with the reach, scale and imagination to solve some of humanity’s greatest challenges.

The original focus of the Sanger Institute was to understand genomes particularly through large scale sequencing and analysis. A leader in the Human Genome Project we are now focused on understanding the role of genetics in health and disease. Our research uncovers the basis of genetic and infectious disease. We aim to provide results that can be translated into diagnostics, treatments or therapies that reduce global health burdens.

The European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) provides data from life science experiments free to the global scientific community and performs research in computational biology. As the European centre for bioinformatics services, the institute manages over 50 databases of biological data including nucleic acid, protein sequences and macromolecular structures. We provide access to this data to more than 6 million researchers around the world. The EBI contributes to the advancement of biology through research in bioinformatics and helps train scientists to use bioinformatics tools and resources.

Discover what the Big C is doing locally to educate people about cancer prevention and early detection. Get stuck in with some hands on mini workshops at their stand to help you improve your health and wellbeing.

The Big C Cancer Charity funds world-class research into many different types of cancer across the Norwich Research Park, invests in medical diagnostic and treatment equipment in Norfolk’s hospitals and provides practical and emotional support through its acute and community Big C Centres. This year Big C are further developing their community education programme to encourage early detection through educating about the signs and symptoms of cancer and healthy lifestyle. Our aim is to achieve better outcomes for those directly or indirectly affected by cancer living in Norfolk and Waveney.